The Final Chapter

What a time we've had.  A canoe trip of a lifetime that we will continue to digest over the remaining 10 days of our expedition and further.  Almost 2 weeks of bliss as we slid down to the sea, cashing in on the potential energy we stored up as we biked to the heights of land for 1400 kms previously.  As Dave said the other day after a particularly wonderful day on the water at an equally wonderful campsite "If I had to bike over all that gravel another time to have such a day like this again...I would do it in a heartbeat".  It is a special, wild and unbelievably gorgeous river.  Which makes for a very bittersweet adventure when in the back of your mind is the fact that it will all disappear.  Within 5 years the vibrant ecosystem that we were lucky enough to travel through will be drowned, never to return.  All the creatures, gorges, microclimates, fisheries will be blanketed in hundreds of metres of water, destroyed and unseen beneath two massive reservoirs.  One moment in the boat your head is spinning, trying to take in the beauty around you, the next your heart breaks open knowing that you will never see it again, nor will anyone else.  All for the sake of a few kilowatts of energy....none of which will stay in the province it's created.  That's an entirely different story, a high voltage one at that and it will undoubtedly give us food for thought while biking for the next few days.  On we go, the end in sight. Infinity miles per gallon. 

It's Canoe Trippin' Time!

At long last, after so many hundreds of kilometres we have made it to Churchill Falls.  This entire voyage has spawned from our wish to paddle the Churchill River before a second dam is built on it, destroying the natural course of the river forever.  For so long we've been saying "when we get to the river...."  or "when we go down the river"....and now, all of a sudden we're here.  After everything!  Our latest adventure has included 4 flat tires in the 3 days it took us to ride from Labrador City to Churchill Falls.  No flat tires for over 1300 Kms, and 4 in a row. Adrien's first blew out the sidewall on her tread and with much duct tape and cursing we reinforced the tread and put a new tube in...our last one.  The bike, sitting upside down with no weight on the tire whatsoever litterally exploded as the new tube blew up in front of everyone watching.  The mysteries of life!   With some amazing support from our new motorcycle friends and a kind couple in a pickup Dave courageously finished the ride to keep our "human powered" status on the go, while Adrien took her ruined bike and all the gear to set up camp in town.  Dave is the hero, he covered 59 Kms on the worst kind of gravel in less than 3.5 hours.  GO DAVE!  We will get the bikes all sorted out in Happy Valley where there's a bike shop and happily (and hopefully uneventfully!) finish our last 10 days of cycling on this trip. None of that matters as we eagerly await the Grand River Keeper's arival with our trusty old town canoe to kick off into the meat of the trip.  There is much food to be eaten and lots of sleep to be had....we couldn't be more excited!  Over and Out!     

One other note...

We have been able to update our photos on Facebook.  It`s proving difficult to get them up on the blog so far! If you can, follow ``Greener Adventures`` on Facebook and all the pictures are there.  The videos will be a project on their own, most likely at the end of this crazy adventure. Enjoy!

Out of the Bush for 24 hours!

Although we are long overdue for a post it is not due for a lack of things to say!  We have had a very difficult time finding much internet access and look forward to lots of time at the end of the trip to properly post a lot of our observations, photos and videos.  Many libraries are closed when we roll through and in the case of the past 10 days there has been nothing but trees, trout and trucks.  We have arrived safe and sound in Labrador City after a wild ride north 600 kms on the 389.  At times paved, at times not, always exciting.  We have met amazing people, seen incredible sights and are still digesting everything.  Including our 36 timbits and supersize french fries from McDonald`s!!!!  Today has been a glorious day of calorie loading and resting in the shade (bug free!!) while doing errands.  We were lucky enough to meet a lovely man, Tom Squire on the road a week ago who offered us orange crush, strawberries and a place to sleep here should we need it.  He and Amanda with their 3 beautiful children have welcomed, showered, fed, cheered us greatly all evening and we hope to stay in touch.  Tomorrow we begin our sprint to Churchill Falls covering 250 kms in 3.5 days before starting our long-awaited canoe trip on Wednesday.  2 months down, 1 to go and spirits are high.  Bugs, stinky clothes and broken gear aren`t dampening our enthusiasm or love of this trip. What an endeavor!  We are constantly thankful for the help and support we have had from our friends, families and strangers throughout this voyage, it would be next to impossible without it.  Here`s hoping we can get some photos up tonight, we have LOTS.  Love you all.

Adventure Part Two!

After 5 days of resting and visiting with many friends we are finally feeling ready to begin the second phase of this journey. We are feeling stronger each day from our bad water experience and figure the further away from the polluted St. Lawrence we get, the healthier we will be. Many people ask us why on earth we are doing this. One man has even called our trip "very strange". Sometimes we agree, but after wandering around Quebec City and sleeping in the same place more than once...we are antsy. Even with all the challenges we have faced, our desire to continue on and keep discovering is no smaller than it was over a month ago. Tomorrow we go, into the heart of Quebec leaving all english behind. All we can ask is for Canada Post to stop their strike so that our food boxes can be mailed to us. Eating is nice afterall! We have added more pictures to facebook and our Picasa account, just look for an album called the first 23 days. Over and out from Neuville, QC.

Quebec City at Last!

It's official, we've finished the rowboat portion of our trip! We are safe and sound enjoying a day of unpacking, organizing and cleaning before going to our friend Edith's house to rest. We are very proud of ourselves and underestimated the sense of satisfaction we would have from such an accomplishment. We've dealt with storms, huge waves, water poisoning for both of us, poison ivy, conjuntivitis, crazy locals and constant mental stress about moving forward. No expedition wouls be complete without all of these things! We owe our finishing on schedule to our good friend Dan Rinard who drove up from maine to row with us when dave was sick from the bad water. Thank you Danno! Life is good, we are happy to be finished for a few days to rest and recharge before saddling up the bikes. Looks like it's back to being sore in different muscles we never knew we had! Look for more photos and videos soon once we get to a computer in the city. Thank you all for following and supporting us so far, it means the world. Over and out for now. Dave and adrien.

C`est la vie sur la bon piste!

And here we are....MONTREAL!!  Taking our first rest day of the whole trip, and it sure feels good.  We are at our good friend Noe`s home enjoying a BBQ, a washing machine and going out for breakfast.  Bacon is king.  Our dreams of rowing our way through downtown Montreal to the old port were dashed at 9 AM yesterday when the Lachine canal operator informed us we would not be allowed to use the canal. 
   The reason.....too much rain the night before overloaded Montreal`s septic system and they pumped the excess raw sewage into the canal.  Wonderful! This means no non-motorized boats for 72 hours.  Motorboats, being the main money producers are fine for some reason.  AKA, the city wouldn`t want them to know their dirty little secret!  We waited 2 hours for them to call every person they could think of to finally say no.  Permission for this, permission for that, blah blah blah.  So, finally, we portage, one more time, 14 kms along side a perfectly good canal to the dock where the boat is waiting patiently for tomorrow.
   The irony of the ordeal being the banners all along the bike path, now portage trail exclaiming ``30 ans sur la bon piste verte!``  Surely a 30 year old environmentally friendly bike path offsets the raw sewage that goes into the canal with every rain storm. However, Noe met us halfway and kept our spirits up, getting a real glimpse of the silly people and things we deal with every day, all day long.  Cèst la vie!  We are happy, enjoying the sun and looking forward to good weather tomorrow when we shove off into the last 10 days of this section of the trip.  Next stop, Quebec City!